Results 3,941-3,960 of 4,700 for speaker:Noel Ahern

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: We are satisfied that the work those organisations are involved in conforms to the purpose and programme of the Department. There is ongoing funding under the national anti-poverty networks. The spare funding was from other programmes from within the Department with no relationship to the programme. Funding came from end-of-year savings in the Department. At the end of each year, the...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: The funding came from one-off savings. This is annual funding which is a different programme. The CWC may get funding from other sources but not under this programme.

Voluntary Sector Organisations. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: A great deal of correspondence has been received which makes more or less the same point the Deputy did. We did not, however, decide lightly on this and I am not likely to reconsider it. We examined this issue fully before making a decision. The decision was made to concentrate resources on those most in need. The other nine networks are very different from the CWC because each has a specific...

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 44 together. I welcome the launch of the recent report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Sports, Tourism, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs on volunteering. I am considering this important and valuable report and I hope to be in a position to respond in the very near future. Discussions with the Minister for Finance will take place as and when...

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: The Department is studying the report, which is interesting. Different aspects of the report, which includes some good suggestions, are being examined. Following the Tipping the Balance report, a sub-committee of the IAG considered how to move forward on volunteering. I will attend the committee fairly soon and I hope by then the Department will have examined the report. I do not want to give...

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: Considerable progress has been made on the White Paper and many of its recommendations have been implemented. I accept that the recommendations of some of these reports, particularly those of Tipping the Balance, were not implemented overnight.

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: The situation is evolving. Since the Department was set up we have been working with this sector to streamline services. Everything cannot be done overnight. In regard to proposals from the Oireachtas committee, we have been working on proposals for volunteering for some time. A sub-committee of the IAG has examined them from the point of view of a introducing a White Paper and from the point...

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I accept calling for CAB moneys to be put back into projects in communities that have been damaged by drugs is a frequent cry of people in the community. All CAB moneys were locked away, kept in suspension or whatever is the proper phrase for a seven-year period. This is the first year any of that money will be available for allocation to these projects or that it can be given to the...

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: There are too many sources of funding for community groups, that is one reason why the Department was established. Some groups spend 95% of their time chasing funds from different agencies, programmes and headings but it all comes back to State funding. We would like to be the only funding agency for many of these community groups — it would make sense but trying to pull that together is a...

Volunteer Training. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: The point on schools was made in the report. That is one of the areas I would like to help to fund and to encourage volunteering in the transition year programme. I am not in the Department of Education and Science. The funds in my Department will not solve every problem. However, we are hoping to take some measures in that regard.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 12, 19 to 21, inclusive, 24, 28, 31, 35, 37, 43, 45, 52, 53, 55, 57 and 264 to 266, inclusive, together. I have dealt with this issue comprehensively during Priority Questions and in previous questions on the matter in the House. The position is that in the context of concentrating the focus of my Department's resources on communities experiencing...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I am sorry if I misinterpreted the Deputy's remark regarding trade unions. The PEACE programme is operated directly by ADM Limited and the Combat Poverty Agency. If the Community Workers Co-operative has a difficulty continuing with the programme, I am sure the matter will be examined. The general opinion, however, is that problems should not arise regarding the programme. Contrary to what...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I am not sure what questions Deputy Boyle has asked.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: Deputy Boyle made a speech rather than asking questions.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I will try to respond to Deputy Boyle's questions. The saving of €150,000 is relatively small in the overall context of the budget of €300 million for such community programmes. However, this saving does not represent a cutback. The overall funding in this area will increase by 8% this year.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: The group in question is not the only one with which the Department works. Our function is to examine the situation in communities and to bring order and coherence to the various schemes that were funded by various Departments in the past. We have made some decisions that may be deemed harsh but they have been for the greater good. Last year, we agreed funding for 15 new community development...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: We see the Community Workers Co-operative as the voice of community workers. That is evident from the co-operative's work plan and programme.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: The other nine organisations are much more targeted. This was one of the key elements of the White Paper, which provides that continued funding of the networks be reviewed at the end of the contract period, that the key criteria should include a membership base that ensures the voice of disadvantaged and marginalised groups will find expression in relevant national fora and that individual...

National Drugs Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: On the prevalence of cocaine use in Ireland, I believe the Deputy is referring to the figures recently reported by the Council of Europe. The figures quoted in this report are based on the UN World Drugs Report, which was released last year. These statistics are not based on the NACD-DAIRU drug prevalence survey, which is generally regarded as the most reliable baseline data on drug...

National Drugs Strategy. (22 Feb 2005)

Noel Ahern: I accept that cocaine use is a growing problem. That is why we introduced the four projects. I mentioned the one in the Deputy's area. All four projects are in Dublin and one of them concerns the training and upskilling of people in statutory employment and local drugs task forces to deal with what is a new and growing problem. Cocaine use does not show up much in overall national surveys,...